The Yolo Habitat Conservancy has prepared the Yolo Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan (Yolo HCP/NCCP), a model conservation plan to provide Endangered Species Act permits and associated mitigation for infrastructure (e.g. roads, bridges, and levees) and development activities (e.g. agricultural facilities, housing, and commercial buildings), identified for construction over the next 50 years in Yolo County. The Yolo Habitat Conservancy partners with landowners, local agencies, and organizations including the Yolo County RCD to protect and enhance habitat for a variety of species across a network of natural lands and working agricultural lands.

Since 2019, Yolo County RCD has been working closely with the Conservancy to develop a monitoring plan framework to ensure that progress towards species, natural community, and landscape level biological goals is consistent with the Yolo HCP/NCCP. The RCD helps manage reserve system properties effectively for endangered species habitat, invasive species control, and habitat restoration. Notably, the RCD is implementing and maintaining habitat for the endangered Valley Elderberry Longhorn beetle (VELB) in the Correll Preserve, near Cache Creek. The VELB is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act and lives exclusively on Blue elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea ). Blue elderberry is the obligate host for the VELB, meaning it is the only known plant species that the beetles rely on for habitat and food.

To learn more about the Yolo Habitat Conservancy, view the Yolo HCP/NCCP, or to learn more about the other wildlife protected by conserved lands, visit the Conservancy’s website.